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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

There are several new version of the GpCode ransomware running wild around the web these days however there is a new even nastier piece of code that researchers have discovered that is even more alarming. The new MBR-infecting ransomware known as Seftad overwrites the master boot record on infected machines telling victims that their hard drives have been encrypted and demands a payment of $100 to reverse the damage.

This malware which was first detected and analyzed by Kaspersky Lab malware analyst Denis Maslennikovas shows as Trojan-Ransom.Win32.Seftad.a and Trojan-Ransom.Boot.Seftad.a. This ransomware is downloaded by Trojan.Win32.Oficla.cw. If Seftad.a was downloaded by Oficla.cw and run, the victim’s PC is rebooted and the following message appears on the screen:

Entering an incorrect password three times will cause the PC to reboot a second time and display the same message again.

"If the victim browses the malware author’s website, he is asked to pay $100 using ‘Paysafecard’ or ‘Ukash’. If you are infected by this malware do not visit the website. Use the password ‘aaaaaaciip’ (without quotes) to restore the original MBR. If the password doesn’t work, you can cure your MBR with Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10," Maslennikov said.

This new approach at attacking the master boot record (MBR) is something new that we haven't seen from ransomware in the past. Several variants include the new GpCode utilizes actual encryption (GpCode is now using theAES 256 and RSA 1024 encryption algorithms) but doesn't attack the boot records. Since the MBR is the first section of a users hard drive to be loaded damaging the MBR can be extremely difficult to reverse.

As of now its unclear if a user can use their installation media and run the FIXMBR command or if running a repair install or other work arounds will work.

European Union regulators have launched an launches antitrust probe into Google's handling and potential abuse of search rankings. At question is rather or not Google is using its dominant position in the online search market to stifle competition by deliberately lowering links to smaller rivals' sites in the companies own search results.

The European Commission announced today that it has decided to open an antitrust investigation into allegations that Google Inc. has abused a dominant position in online search, in violation of European Union rules (Article 102 TFEU). The opening of formal proceedings follows complaints by search service providers about unfavourable treatment of their services in Google's unpaid and sponsored search results coupled with an alleged preferential placement of Google's own services. This initiation of proceedings does not imply that the Commission has proof of any infringements. It only signifies that the Commission will conduct an in-depth investigation of the case as a matter of priority.

Several competitors, one owned by Microsoft, say that links to their services appear too low on Google's general search results. They also claim that when Google offers similar services, such as online price comparison, it puts its own links higher on the sponsored search results, the ones companies have to pay for.

In addition, the Commission will look into whether Google prevented advertising partners from posting ads from Google's competitors on their sites and whether it was making it more difficult for customers to move data from their advertising campaigns to other ad platforms.

If Google is found guilty of tampering with results to unfavorably position the competition lower in its ranks the company could could potentially face billions in fines, as in the recent cases levied against Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp.

Google has responded to the allegations, "It may seem obvious, but people sometimes forget this—not every website can come out on top, or even appear on the first page of our results, so there will almost always be website owners who are unhappy about their rankings," wrote Google SVP Susan Wojcicki and VP Udi Manber on the company's European Public Policy Blog.

Monday, November 29, 2010

It often amazes me that people spend hours and hours waiting in line during the holidays only to walk into their local retailers and plop down 100's of dollars on expensive cables when they don't need to.

Just this past weekend I watched in horror as a couple got duped into spending nearly a hundred dollars on a couple of HDMI cables for that nice new HDTV they bought. I'm certain they spent hours scouring the web and wait just for the holiday sales to get the best deal possible only to blow some of the money they just saved on cables that they could have gotten for a fraction of the cost.

Consumers need to educate themselves. For the most part the sales staff of electronics stores (BestBuy, Staples ect) are trained to push sales and push expensive cables as add-ons. And why not they offer more overhead for stores that sell them for $20 on up. But what those sales people won't tell you is that there is actually little to no difference between a $100 cable and a $5 cable.

HDMI uses a digital signal unlike an older analog signal it takes a lot of interference to actual degrade that signal. Meaning those expensive HDMI cables you see offered at your local retailer for $40 or more are not worth it as there is no digital signal difference between a cheap or expensive HDMI cable and the amount of shielding on even the most inexpensive cable is going to be more than sufficient.

I always feel bad when I see people walking out of BestBuy with a bag full of over prices cables. When I can I mention that they should check Fry's, which often has HDMI cables for under $10 or I tell them to check online sites such as Monoprice.com or even Amazon and their AmazonBasics Cables.

People really should be proactive and educate no only themselves but their family and friends, and help them learn that its ok to save some money and use cheaper cables. You should never pay more than $10 for a standard six-foot HDMI cable. And despite what salesmen and manufacturers might tell you, there's no meaningful difference between the $10 cable and the $50 cable. Unless you see something obvious, such as dropouts or a flashing screen, the digital information transmitted by both cables is exactly the same--no cable can make the picture any better or any worse.

Most of these claims seem relatively in-line with what most industry insiders are expecting after all many of the features such as the USB port are items many users have been requesting since the release of the original iPad. As for the front facing camera and Face Time capabilities during the teardown of the original iPad, it was shown that there was a space for placement for a front-facing camera, so that is also a likely addition.

The last feature leaked is the 3-axis gyroscope. This is a feature currently used in the iPhone 4 and iPod touch and Apple has been pushing gaming on the iPad so it just seems a natural evolution. So again despite these being rumors this is a likely addition.

The next major rumor involves release date. EdibleApple.com is claiming that Apple might be gearing up for a January 11th release date for the iPad 2. Citing Three Guys and a Podcast the site claims that Apple has two special events planned for the first quarter of the new year.

First, and this should come as no surprise, Apple will reportedly hold a special even this coming January where the company will introduce the iPad 2. Apple, of course, first introduced the iPad last January and the scheduling is in line with Apple’s typical release/upgrade cycle.

It'll be interesting to see if that rumor holds true. Just this week Apple release iOS 4.2 and a number of new rumors claim that Apple is planning to release its next major mobile operating system update -- iOS 4.3 -- in December, with recurring app subscriptions. It would be a bit surprising to see another set of major announcements for the iPad coming that quickly, however I wouldn't put it against Apple.

Several other sites speculate that the iPad 2 could see an April 2011 release, possibly available in multiple sizes. (smaller iPads anyone?) Again this is all pretty much speculation so Apple fans will have to wait and see!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

The following is a guest post from Tarrah a blogger who helps write for dealio.com, a website dedicated to helping people find the best deals online.

Each year, before the Black Friday kickoff to the holiday shopping season even rolls around, retailers and shoppers alike wait with baited breath to see what the hottest “must have” gadgets will be. Retailers hope for large profits on high dollar items while shoppers anticipate getting those high dollar items at rock bottom prices. Although there’s really no way of knowing what the biggest sellers of the season will be until the sales actually get under way, the current market is usually a very good indicator of what will be hot - or not. For 2010, current market trends show that the most popular items this holiday season are likely to be Apple products, Sony’s new gaming console and the Amazon Kindle 3G eBook Reader.

Tablet PCs, like The Apple iPad look to be wildly popular among consumers this holiday season. The iPad has dominated the tablet PC sales so far, but will it hold of the other tablets this season?

Smartphones are another potentially hot item this season. Android phones such as the Droid and HTC Hero continue to take market share away from the iPhone, but at 50 Million sold, an “iPhone killer” has still yet to be seen.

Speaking of Apple, the new iPod touch is another item to watch for. It combines all the technology of a regular iPod with advanced features like a gaming center, video chat and video recording plus editing.

The Amazon Kindle 3G is an eBook reader that can hold over three thousand eBooks. Unlike previous Kindle models, the 3G offers free 3G web browsing, which can be accessed at any Wi-Fi location.

Sony's new gaming platform will be available just in time for Christmas. The PS3 Move combines the Nintendo Wii with Microsoft Kinect and includes a camera that records all your movements in 3D. The camera is integrated with a motion-sensitive controller so all the game moves can be re-enacted again and again.

Because of their popularity among shoppers, getting the best deal on these items means planning your shopping strategy ahead of time. Search as many “leaked” Black Friday sales ads as you can find. These ads will tell you which merchants will be offering these items so you’ll know where to go first, whether you do your Black Friday shopping online or in person. Remember to take advantage of any coupons or shipping offers to make great deal even better. If you find that a merchant has sold out of a particular item on your list before you get there, ask if they offer a rain checks. These will allow you to purchase the item at the advertised price long after the sale has ended. If you have no luck with rain checks, try searching for the item on eBay. Some eBay sellers will purchase popular items in bulk and sell them for slight profit. Even at the inflated reseller prices, you still have a chance of getting the item well below retail cost. You can also search your local classified ads for people selling these items. Some choose to do their reselling this way instead of auctioning the items so you may still be able to land a deal. If all else fails, you might have to wait until after Christmas to purchase that hot item on your list. Although this isn’t the ideal situation, if you combine sale prices with coupons and other promotions, you may still be able to get the item at very near the Black Friday sale price long after Black Friday has come and gone. >

Oh, and if standing in line at 4:00 am for low prices isn't your thing, then consider shopping on Cyber Monday.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Starbucks has announced this year's version of their 12 Days of Sharing program which is slated to being Dec 1st. The program provides exclusive text message offers each day from December 1 – December 12, 2010. The offers range from discounted mugs to deals on coffee or other in-store treats.

To sign up, send a text message containing the text, “12Days” to 29943. You should immediately receive a confirmation text from them stating, “Thanks for signing up to get 12 Days of Sharing Texts.”

According to the list of last year's “12 days of Wishing” posted over at FatWallet it looks like they'll be offering some pretty decent deals, and hey you'll be stopping in there anyways why not sign-up and see if they have anything you might want!

For those of you that are looking to get your holiday coffee fix on right now Starbucks is offering a Buy One, Get one FREE deal on some of their more popular holiday drinks from November 18 - 21, between 2 - 5 p.m. At participating locations only of course.

This is a solid deal, as the 16 GB version of the WiFi-only Apple iPad costs $499 at Apple stores and at most online retailers. TJ Maxx and Marshalls are running this is a 'doorbuster' deal and eating the costs of these discounts to get users in the store. That’s why these great deals aren’t in every store they are likely very targets in their approach and this will be a big YMMV as to which stores will carry them but this is a great deal for anyone that can get one!

Update: Just found the story posted via Engadget and they have confirmed some stores are selling now and some are waiting. So this is a very big YMMV!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Last month a court order injunction forced Lime Company, the parent company of the very popular P2P sharing application LimeWire, to shut down and halt any further development of the the LimeWire software. Not wanting to let the service slip quietly into the night "secret dev team" of programmers has resurrected the software and furthered it's development.

This "secret dev team" of unknown programmers has released a new version of the software to torrent websites. The software dubbed 'LimeWire Pirate Edition (LPE)' is based off the last LimeWire 5.6 beta and comes with all the features of LimeWire PRO unlocked.

According to a posting on their website the folks at LimeWire are not endorsing the new software, in fact they sound none to happy that it has been released.

We have very recently become aware of applications on the internet purporting to use the LimeWire name, such as the LimeWire Pirate Edition. We demand that all persons using the LimeWire software, name, or trademark in order to upload or download copyrighted works in any manner cease and desist from doing so. We further remind you that the unauthorized uploading and downloading of copyrighted works is illegal.

As we reported last month Lime Company had lost their years long battle against the RIAA and MPAA and had been forced under court-ordered injunction to disable the file-sharing and music-searching features of its P2P software. Years of costly battle had astronomical fines had finally taken its toll.

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

NVIDIA has announced the new GeForce GTX 580 or what they are calling the "World's Fastest DX11 GPU". The GTX 580 runs at 772MHz, features 512 CUDA cores and packs 1.5GB of GDDR5 at 4008MHz, which is capable of delivering bandwidth of 192.4 GB/sec.

Monday, November 08, 2010

Google wants holiday travelers to be able to stay connected when in flight this year so the company has teamed up with AirTran, Delta and Virgin America to offer free Gogo Inflight Wi-Fi on every domestic flight from November 20, 2010 through January 2, 2011. The three airlines have outfitted their entire domestic fleet with in-flight Wi-Fi in order to offer the free Internet service to more than 700 planes and approximately 15 million expected passengers this holiday season.

Typically, GoGo charges anywhere from $5 to $13 for Internet access per flight, depending on the travelers flight length with additional monthly packages ranging from $30 to $40 for you frequent travelers.

This season marks the second straight year that Google has provided free Wi-Fi to travelers over the holiday season. Last year, Google worked with Virgin America as well as more than 50 airports to provide free Internet both on the ground and in the air. This year, the Chrome team is continuing that mission by joining with AirTran and Delta in addition to Virgin America, to concentrate on connecting travelers while they’re in the sky.

“We are constantly working to help provide a better web experience to users around the world,” said Sundar Pichai, Vice President of Product Management at Google. “Whether it be building a better browser with Chrome or bringing free Wi-Fi to air travelers this holiday season, we are constantly innovating to ensure users’ access to the web is fast, simple and seamless.”

Saturday, November 06, 2010

Electronic Arts this week announced a new free-to-play version of the company's popular Battlefield series. Battlefield Play4Free, slated to hit the PC in Spring 2011, will offer gamers a chance to play a simplified version of the game.

"We broke new ground in 2009 with the launch of Battlefield Heroes; a game that has 6M registered players worldwide. Now we are complementing that arcade shooter with a core, realistic Battlefield shooter experience that fans have been clamoring for," said James Salt, Senior Producer, Battlefield Play4Free. "Battlefield Play4Free is for serious shooter fans who are looking for a premium--but free--experience that rivals top console titles."

Combining the most popular maps from Battlefield 2 with the familiar classes and powerful weapons of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, players have access to 16 vehicles including the Mil Mi-28 attack helicopter, its nemesis the F35 VTOL jet fighter, the massive Russian T-90 main battle tank, and the hard to catch LSV light strike vehicle. Players progress through the game to learn new combat skills, and earn in-game currency to spend on a massive array of devastating weapons and equipment.

Thursday, November 04, 2010

Newegg says why wait until the end of November for big savings? The company is celebrating the tradition of 'Black Friday' with a month long sale that started November 1st.

The Newegg Black November Sale features category-wide deals on exciting products like PC upgrades, home theater components, TVs, cameras, electronics and more. A new product category will be discounted every day. There is no word on exactly what will be on-sale so customers will have to check the site daily, but knowing Newegg we are likely to see some pretty sweet deals!

I know the Apple Fanboys out there believe that their Mac's are impervious to many of the threats that face us PC guys. But lets face it folks every day we see more and more viruses written for the Mac platform and a growing number of cross platform attacks that are infecting Mac users just like your average PC user.

Over the past couple of years Apple themselves has even stepped to the plate and suggested that user might need AV protection. A page that has since been removed entitled "Mac OS: Antivirus utilities" suggested that user should look for a good antivirus utility.

"Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult."

Apple then suggested three products Intego VirusBarrier, Symantec Norton Anti-Virus and McAfee VirusScan for Mac all three of which will set their users back as much as $80. Stepping up to the plate is Sophos a well know vendor of security software and hardware, including anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam, network access control, encryption software and data loss prevention for desktops.

The company is now offering Mac users a great deal. As Apple has thus far refused to protect its users with free antivirus software, Sophos is launching Sophos Anti-Virus Home Edition for Macs which will protect Mac users against "today’s and tomorrow’s Mac threats".

"While most businesses recognize the importance of protecting their Mac computers from malware threats, most home users do not," said Chris Kraft, product management vice president at Sophos.

"Mac users must remember that less targeted is not the same as invulnerable", Sophos security expert Richard Wang.

The threat is not as prevalent as PC users, with only "one to two" attacks on Macs each week, compared to the "tens of thousands" per day against Windows PCs, said Wang.

According to Wang, attacks against Mac users are mostly delivered via malicious Web sites. Boonana, a Koobface variant, recently made the rounds of Facebook and other social networking sites targeting Mac users. The Boonana-infected site first determined the visitor’s operating system and then delivered malware appropriate for that platform, said Wang.

Facebook users out there might have noticed that Facebook has recently adjusted their page settings using not only a smaller font but what also appears to be smaller images. At first I thought it was just me until I saw a slew of complaints over on Twitter. Well no fear there is a quick easy remedy for anyone out there that is having issues.

For those of you with a scroll mouse the quickest easiest way is to hold down the control (CTRL) key and scroll the wheel up or down. This will adjust the entire page zoom so be prepared your images and everything will get bigger.

For you Firefox users out there look at your command tool bar select View (or alt V) then Zoom. Again this zooms the entire page in or out so your fonts and images will get bigger or smaller. If you just want to change font sizes select zoom just text.

IE users need to select Page from the command tool bar. There you'll see the zoom options or text options and similar to FF you can adjust just the text or the whole page.

Tip: You may want to adjust the font size only otherwise your pictures will look a little fuzzy.

All browsers including Google Chrome and Opera should have similar settings that allow a quick page zoom. Alternatively you can adjust your browser settings to set custom fonts and size, however the above described options are the easiest route for most users. They also allow you to change your zoom back and forth if another page is too large.

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Earlier this week Google sent out a rather rare email to users of Google Buzz, so rare in fact that my personal email accounts thought it was spam.

The gist of the email, as part of a settlement over Google Buzz and privacy concerns the company has setup an $8.5 Million fund to fund organizations focused on Internet privacy policy or privacy education, as well as to cover lawyers’ fees and costs and other expenses.

Shortly after its launch [Google Buzz] , we heard from a number of people who were concerned about privacy. In addition, we were sued by a group of Buzz users and recently reached a settlement in this case.

The settlement acknowledges that we quickly changed the service to address users' concerns. In addition, Google has committed $8.5 million to an independent fund, most of which will support organizations promoting privacy education and policy on the web. We will also do more to educate people about privacy controls specific to Buzz. The more people know about privacy online, the better their online experience will be.

Just to be clear, this is not a settlement in which people who use Gmail can file to receive compensation. Everyone in the U.S. who uses Gmail is included in the settlement, unless you personally decide to opt out before December 6, 2010. The Court will consider final approval of the agreement on January 31, 2011. This email is a summary of the settlement, and more detailed information and instructions approved by the court, including instructions about how to opt out, object, or comment, are available at http://www.BuzzClassAction.com

What Are My Options?

EXCLUDE YOURSELF - This is the only option that allows you to bring your own lawsuit, or be part of any other lawsuit against Google about the legal claims resolved in this Settlement. You must mail your request for exclusion so that it is received no later than December 6, 2010.

OBJECT - Write to the Court about why you do not like the Settlement. Your objection must be received by January 10, 2011.

GO TO A HEARING - Ask to speak in Court about the fairness of the Settlement. Send your Notice of Intent to Appear so that it is received no later than January 10, 2011.

DO NOTHING - Give up your rights to sue Google about the legal claims in this case and thereby accept the terms of this Settlement.